description

Very little is known about Hjǫrtr (which, if translated, would mean ‘Deer’). According to Hemings þáttr Áslákssonar (Hem in Hr and Hb), he was an Icelander who was sent by Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson as an envoy to Russia in 1065-6 to retrieve a bag of goatskin filled with gold which Haraldr had left with his wife, Ellisif (Elizabeth) (see Hb 1892-6, 331-3; Fellows Jensen 1962, 37-9). He is also mentioned in the first part of the þáttr in Flat, where his patronymic is given as Óláfsson (Flat 196-8, III, 401). Because that information is lacking in the other versions (see Fellows Jensen 1962, 1), it is likely a Flat innovation.